


Parallel Dimension(s) Are A B*tch

by Majorminor2242, Rabbit (Majorminor2242)



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies), 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: (Like a Quirk), (Please), (technically) - Freeform, BAMF Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, BAMF League of Villains, BAMF Midoriya Izuku, BAMF Toothless (How to Train Your Dragon), BAMF Villains, Bakugou Katsuki Has One for All Quirk, Bakugou Katsuki Has a Heart, Bakugou Katsuki is Bad at Feelings, Canon-Typical Violence, Competitive Bakugou Katsuki, Competitive Usagiyama Rumi | Miruko, Confused Teenagers in Love, Cute Midoriya Izuku, Dimension Travel, Dragon Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, Everything is OP in this Story, F/M, Female Bakugou Katsuki, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III & Toothless Attend U.A. High School, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III & Toothless Friendship, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III & Toothless Share a Body, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III has One for All Quirk, Hilarity Ensues, Jealous Bakugou Katsuki, Midoriya Izuku Has One for All Quirk, Midoriya Izuku Has a Pet, Midoriya Izuku Has a Quirk, Midoriya Izuku is a Dork, Midoriya Izuku is a Ray of Sunshine, Multi, Orphaned Bakugou Katsuki, Orphaned Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, Orphaned Midoriya Izuku, Orphaned Usagiyama Rumi | Miruko, Orphans, Please Give Me/This A Chance?, Polyamory, Protective Bakugou Katsuki, Protective Toothless (How to Train Your Dragon), Protective Usagiyama Rumi | Miruko, Quirks (My Hero Academia), This Is Not Going To Go The Way You Think, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, Tsundere Bakugou Katsuki, UA is a Loving but Dysfunctional Family, Usagiyama Rumi | Miruko has One for All Quirk, Young Usagiyama Rumi | Miruko, read these tags
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:07:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 13,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23763598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Majorminor2242/pseuds/Majorminor2242, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Majorminor2242/pseuds/Rabbit
Summary: //SUMARY IS IN NOTES SECTION//This story is split up into two alternating perspectives each chapter of soon-to-be best-friend protagonists. I've made every effort to plan this story to be wholesome, comedic and gripping, so I hope you can find it in your heart to give this a go or even just try the first chapter and see what you think before you immediately write it off.Small teasers of what you can expect from this story:- Izuku has a quirk- Female Katsuki Bakugou- Young Rumi Usagiyama- HTTYD crossover- One for All is more... complex- Quirks are even more powerful/volatile than before- Elements of orphanage and adoption (via some caring heroes who become the best family you can ask for)- Hilarious/heartwarming/sad/happy moments- Comedic relationship struggles between possessive tsunderes and selfless dorks[Bonus round:]- Hiccup trying to learn Japanese- Toothless being adorably protective of his familyI hope you enjoy my take on a unique story! ^^
Relationships: Bakugou Katsuki & Midoriya Izuku, Bakugou Katsuki/Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III/Midoriya Izuku/Usagiyama Rumi | Miruko, Bakugou Katsuki/Midoriya Izuku, Class 1-A (My Hero Academia) & Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, Group & Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead, Group & All UA Teachers, Group & Nedzu, Group & Yagi Toshinori | All Might, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III & Midoriya Izuku, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III & Toothless, Midoriya Izuku & Usagiyama Rumi | Miruko, Midoriya Izuku/Usagiyama Rumi | Miruko
Comments: 23
Kudos: 64





	1. The 'Phase-Shift: Blink' Paradox

**Author's Note:**

> (In case you haven't already, I would suggest reading the tags for this story since they're more peculiar than my usual stories)
> 
> STORY SUMMARY:
> 
> Izuku Midoriya was gifted something that many could only dream of. By closing his right eye, he shifts into an alternate, parallel 'pocket dimension'. On the other hand, should he close his left eye, he rewinds his own body through time, reversing both his position and physical state. Closing both would do... well, both.
> 
> Most would say these abilities to be fundamentally reality-breaking. They would say it shouldn't be possible. That this power shouldn't exist. Of course, many others say it's unfair. That he's 'lucky'. That he doesn't deserve those powers.
> 
> What those people don't realise, is that with great power, comes great pain, effort...And far greater responsibility.
> 
> ~oOo~
> 
> Hiccup is a Norse teenager from the island of Berk, where fighting dragons is a way of life. His progressive views and weird sense of humour make him a misfit, despite the fact that his father is chief of the clan. Yearning to fit in but soon regretting his decision, he is unwillingly tossed into dragon-training, where he endeavours to prove himself as a true Viking. However, when he befriends an injured dragon he names Toothless, his goals change and he wishes to start anew, free from his burdens.
> 
> He somehow ends up getting just what he asked for, but he'd never expect it to come like this...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *Izuku's POV*

"Hey, Deku! Hurry up dweeb, I ain't gonna wait for you if this ever happens when we're older!" the prepubescent sound of the young girl Izuku would consider his best friend rang through his ears. It belonged to Katsumi Bakugou. She was wearing a short dress and adorned with a pretty, orange hairband, controlling her jagged, spiky, long hair in what amounted to a sharp, hedgehog-like ponytail. Her hair was ash-blonde, with hardly noticeable orange flared tips. There was also an admittedly cute butterfly pin ornamenting her hair, along with an admirably brave smirk that reached both of her piercing red eyes.

"C-coming Kacchan!" the boy hurried over, blowing his disheveled, viridescent hair out of his emerald eyes.

"Jeez, you're slow." she jabbed him in feigned exasperation. "You know being a hero means being the best, right?"

"Well... I guess. But then aren't heroes good at different things...?" he pondered, which caused the confident girl to pause in surprised consideration.

"Well... Then to be the _best_ hero, you need to be the best at _everything!"_

Izuku chuckled at his best friends antics. "Yeah, and we're gonna be the best hero team in the world!"

"Heck yeah!" she raised an expectant hand for a high-five, receiving a half-hearted bump. "What was that?!"

"A h-high five...?"

"No, _this_ is a high-five!" she grabbed his hand, before slapping it _hard_.

"Ow!" he rubbed his palm, shaking it and wincing.

"Stop being so weak, dweeb! I know you know we both know that heroes have to be tuff- touff- _togh-"_

"Tough?"

"Yeah, tuff!" she nodded, causing him to smile. "Once we get our quirks, we'll be the best and no-one will com- comp... _come close!"_

**~oOo~**

It was in their first year of preschool, a few months later that Katsumi showed her first signs of her quirk. She was the first of the class that year, and for a month or so, her miniature firecrackers she could set off in her palms were the talk of everyone in the class -as well as the rest of the nursery.

"Oh wow! Such an early bloomer!" one teacher revered.

"And look at its power only a month in! So much potential too!" another scratched her chin.

"I'm sure that quirk is already future hero material! I'd even bet money on it!"

"Man, that kid better make use of it, otherwise what a waste, am I right?"

In the corner, the girl that felt everybody's eyes on her crackled her palms again. She scowled at the comments, appreciating some of them, but not their implications.

"What's wrong, Kacchan? You look mad- well... madder than you normally do."

"Stupid Deku. Just develop your quirk already!" she growled breathlessly, before resuming her training of her resistance to her quirk's heat. She had raw, pink scorch marks all over her hands, but Izuku insisted that it would help her, so she kept doing it.

Izuku frowned slightly at the girl hiding her feelings again. She was starting to do it more and more often, not telling him much about _anything_ anymore...

He turned away and resumed his first passage for his 'Hero Analysis #1' journal: Explosions.

**~oOo~**

Izuku Midoriya was... apprehensive when it became clear that he was the only one in class without his quirk. He felt more insecure than usual, and for good reasons too.

"Move it, nerd!" a large boy with wings shoved him off of his knees harshly, startling him from his peaceful drawing.

"Yeah, we're here now, useless! So get lost!" Another stepped on the paper, scrunching the picture of Katsumi flying with her quirk, under his foot.

A thud echoed, before another thud followed, one of the bullies collapsing to the floor clumsily. Behind where the large boy had been standing, Katsumi was glaring poison-coated daggers at the other, palms cackling louder than her malicious grin.

"What was that? _You_ were here? Too bad, I'm here now, so get lost!" she glowered as best as a five year-old could -which was admittedly terrifying to Izuku but 'cute' to the staff.

The other boy scrambled away, carrying with him the still dazed Tsubasa. "Let's get outta here!"

Both Izuku and Katsumi watched as the boys ran deftly into a wall, before finally exiting their sight. Then Katsumi turned towards Izuku.

"Deku."

"Y-yes, Kacchan?"

"Why."

"W-why what, Kacchan?" he smiled shakily.

"Why didn't you do something?! Why don't you have your quirk yet?! Why do _I_ always have to keep saving _you_?!" she growled.

"I-I... B-but... I h-honestly d-dont really mind them doing it..."

"Don't even say that, I know it isn't true!" the girl crossed her arms at his pained but reluctant expression. "Fine then, I'm not gonna help you anymore. Either you start being a hero or you stay as a weakling, I don't care." she stormed off, annoyed that she felt the need to resort to this.

'But he's never going to learn if I don't...' she sighed, stopping herself from going back and apologising. 'No, he needs to stop being useless if he wants to win.'

**~oOo~**

It was the first time Katsumi had ever cried, that night. 

It had finally appeared. Overnight, after a tiring day of dealing with a more-than-usual aggressive Katsumi, the two had decided to have a sleepover at his house, mostly due to the girl insisting that 'she didn't want him thinking he could slack off at home' (but he knew that she just wanted his company, which was a really nice thought. He slipped into his bed, with the girl on the other side, facing away from them (nothing lewd, they're five don't forget). Within a few minutes at most, he had already fallen asleep, however it was only a few hours in, around about midnight, that through his dreams his head began to ache in a splitting, searing pain.

His eyes shot open, only to find himself wince every time he blinked. "Gah!" He wasn't sure why, but the front of his head was killing him, and it didn't feel like any brain freeze he had ever experienced from inhaling ice cream.

He cringed when he realised that he had accidentally woke up the girl beside him, which was a mistake he never intended to do again. A foot yeeted him out of the bed, with a grumbled 'Shut up, Deku. I was having a nice dream and you interrupted it."

"Sorry, its just that I feel really weird right now..." That got the blonde's attention. Shifting up onto her elbows, she leaned over the bed and watched as the boy frowned in pain. He blinked again, only to clutch his head with another yelp, and surprising both of them -but especially Katsumi at first... He disappeared.

"D-Deku...?" she twitched in bafflement at the boy fading into a blue-ish hued ghost that fazed and crackled like one of those bugs in a video game, before ultimately disappearing with clear terror evident in his eyes as it did.

Immediately, Katsumi panicked, jolting out from underneath the covers and tumbling off of the bed clumsily. "Deku?! DEKU?!" she yelled, eyes as wide as sandbags. _"D-Deku, this isn't funny anymore!"_ 'Was it his quirk? Did it finally appear?'

The door to the bedroom opened, and inside, Inko peeked her head through. "Katsumi, honey? What's wrong?" her eyes met with the girl who was in clear distress, before scanning the room for the cause. "Where's Izuku?" she asked quietly when she was met with nothing but the empty confines of his hero merchandise-littered room lit only by the hallway light left on for the kids to see the way to the bathroom.

"I- I- H-he just... disappeared, aunty Inko! He was on the floor, right here because I kicked him for waking me up, and he said his head was hurting. Then he just di-disappeared!" she sniffled, before looking back up at the adult. "I-id dis my fault...?" she cried through a snotty nose, eyes wide but pinpricked with fear.

Instantly, Inko rushed towards the girl and embraced her comfortingly. "No, Nono sweetheart this isn't your fault! It must be his quirk... We need to go find him, see if he's anywhere close. You go look around the house sweetie, and I'll call the police just incase, alright?" the woman tightened her grip on the shaking girl.

"B-bu-but I k-kicked him and h-he's gone..." she whimpered.

D̷̟̤̟̩́̉̇̓̚ō̷͇̣̻̇n̸͍̮͙̽̄'̵̨̦̥̾͝ͅt̴̳̀̋̐̓ ̷͈͆c̶̭̖̲̬̭̈́́͆͝-̸̖͉̈́̾̂͜ͅ-̵͍̓͆̅͝ͅ ̸̻̠̭͛̈̕͘K̷͎̗̜̽̑̕a̵̮̳͙͑c̷̡̗̃ͅc̶͉̬̺͂́̿̌͆ḧ̸̘͙̪͎̣́͠ä̶̡̮͙͖́́͑n̸̻̲̿̉͑͝,̶͚̞̄͆͊͝ ̶̥̪͙͋͌͝I̴̧̻͖͚̯̓̚͠'̸̜̤͕̗̌̆m̷͖̠͖̪̌̔̕ ̶̣̟̝̓̑̅͂̚f̸̧̧̻̲̫͛̄̂͝i̵̹̲̓̚-̷̧̼̝͓̅́͌̾ͅ-̶̲̄

Both females jumped in their skins at the sound of a warped, distorted voice crackling through the air. It sounded weightless and jerky, like speaking through a wormhole.

"Izuku!?" the girl screamed out, only to feel a ghost-like chill dance along her spine as though being hugged by air itself. She could feel some sort of... blinking presence there, but only for split seconds before it disappeared again.

Every time he disappeared for longer than a minute, both females panicked.

"I-I'll s-stay here with Izu-kun, a-aunty should go call for help." Katsumi remained kneeling on the floor. The woman nodded, before glancing around the empty room, and then leaving to go find a phone. Through the walls, Katsumi could hear the panicked trembling of her voice, desperately begging for a hero that could help in this admittedly incredulous situation.

It took only ten minutes for the doorbell to sound, the police entering passively. They gave their best attempts of reassurance, however Katsumi wasn't having any of it.

_She just wanted Izuku to be quirkless again so that none of this would ever happen in the first place._

It was another twenty minutes or so later when a forceful knock rattled on the entrance once again.

"What's the situation?" the gruff grumble that emanated from a dishevelled man caught both Inko's and Katsumi's attention immediately. Even with his homeless-like appearance, this man's slacked posture still held authority and all control of the room.

"I-it's my son! He's disappeared, and we think it must be h-his quirk!"

"Disappeared? Like a teleportation ability or permeation?" his tone was cold and calculated, yet somehow the mystery man's presence calmed the girls somewhat.

_He knew what he was doing._

"It looked more like he was blinking in and out, like a light Mr!" the blonde spoke up, surprising him.

"Hmm… Well, unless I can see him, I can't cancel his quirk's effects, so we need to wait for him to 'blink' back again."

It took nearly two hours for the boy to blink a faint, hazy blue again. Aizawa was lucky he even caught the slight glow by the foyer at all, however he made sure to erase the quirk the moment he could.

Katsumi had been watching the man for longer than she had realised, when his steely gaze snapped towards the front foyer. Immediately, she caught on and leapt up, speeding around the corner of the hallway and skidding to a clumsy stop.

There, at the end, stood a frightened young boy who had such a terrified look on his face, that even Shota knew no young child should have to bear.

Katsumi didn't blink. She didn't even breath. All she did was charge.

*BMPH* "OOof-" Izuku was sent straight to the floor, splayed like a snow angel and staring up with wide, round eyes like a puppy caught in a blizzard, and all the girl could do was reciprocate with a beyond-rare smile gracing the contours of her lips.

Without letting a coherent word escape from the boy's mouth, she embraced him tightly like a warm bear of blanket, and all he could do was shiver, releasing a shaky breath into her neck.

Both of them then felt an even larger hug wrap them both, as Inko swooned. "Ohhh my baby. You're alright, you're okay. What happened…?"

"I-I- There was just… j-just emptiness… Mommy I don't wanna go back! I-It was l-like I w-was all alone, a-and I kept getting jumped about by this p-pulling thing! I-it was really scary I don't wanna go back!" Tears streamed down his face at the vivid memory of the blue replication of the world. It was as though he had gotten trapped in some three-dimensional of the world, but one where there was no life, no colour and no time. Everything was a frozen, glitchy blue.

"Sorry to break up this moment, I can clearly see that your son has experienced something potentially minority traumatic for his age, however before we do anything, we need to get him on the quirk-disabling medication. Before you ask, no it won't permanently disable his quirk, however it is necessary since the moment I blink, he may disappear again." the man stated, looking over at the police nearby, who held up a small container of candy-like pills.

"O-okay… You heard the hero, Izuku. We need you to take those so nothing bad happens again when this man blinks, alright?"

"O-okay…" The young boy bristled, quivering like a leaf in billowing winds, however he bravely scrunched his nose and deeply swallowed the pills. A sigh of relief sounded after thirty odd seconds.

"Ahhhhhh, that should do it. Definitely kicks in quick." the bedraggled man that had been negating his strange quirk from going haywire again smiled a little, his eyes fluttering in clearly dry and bloodshot irritation.

"Looks to me like you need to get your boy to a specialist before the drugs wear off." A detective patted Inko on the back, before clearing out the rest of the policemen on standby. The hero looked at his watch in alarm, catching Izuku's eyes and nodding, before taking off into the dark night again. Clearly on call to save another person having a very bad time with their quirk.


	2. Flames

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *Hiccup's POV*

Flames.

That was all I remember.

There were flames. It was bright. Sound hardly registered past the muffled, deafening explosions -and the screaming...

_There was lot's of screaming._

My mother had wielded a sword for the first time to protect me. I was only a few years old at the time, and a massive dragon had bombarded the roof to the big house on the top of the hill, creating a hole wide enough to fit through.

Back then, I was too young to know that dragon's were fearsome, so I wasn't particularly scared nor worried of the creature when it slunk towards my crib. It wore a curious expression, one no longer filled with the hatred that it held when it had first entered.

I'm not sure how I remembered this, but I always just somehow _did._ There was something so peculiar about the way that that dragon had acted towards me, something that I have still never experienced again to this day. It didn't threaten me, didn't try to roast me like all dragons do.

Like all dragons _'_ _should'_.

My mother had only arrived once the dragon was already peering into the crib, and at first, she had picked up a sword, ready to break her pledge of anti-violence to protect her only son, however that too failed when she realised that the dragon was acting... harmless.

My mother had 'always been like that', according to the rest of the village. She believed profusely that the war between Vikings and Dragons was unnecessary. The reason behind it was forgotten with time, and all it was was merciless slaughter from both sides.

So many casualties, _but for what reason?_

I wish I knew my mother. But other than the blurred face in the memory almost as old as _I_ am as well as the descriptions provided by my father, I can only really imagine what she was like. She believed that we could all find peace if we stopped fighting.

_She was also considered sick or insane for believing this._

I don't remember what happened after that moment, when the dragon and my mother crossed gazes. I'm not quite sure, but it had to have been something bad, since my father always told me the same thing from his point of view:

'Stoick had rushed to the house the moment he saw it burning furiously against the midnight backdrop, axe at the ready with a ferocious growl that rivalled even the dragons. Once he arrived, bursting through the upstairs door, he found the dragon and his mother 'fighting', and with initiative, he threw his axe to intercept and save both her and myself.

The dragon then flew off with my mother in his claws, never to be seen again.'

I don't think that story is all correct however. Reason being, I don't think they were fighting when he had arrived. But I'm not sure what else to think, since 'kind dragons' are unfathomable; a joke in the eyes of us Vikings. 'A harmless dragon is about as real as gnome or troll.'

But then, who knows if gnomes and trolls are actually real or not, if no-one's ever seen one? Not seeing a 'domesticated pet' such as 'dogs' or 'horses' in the Nordic archipelago doesn't mean that they don't exist. They were simply located in other parts of the world. It's like never seeing a particular Viking yourself within the village, and saying that 'even though other people have seen them, they don't exist because I haven't'.

_Vikings are stupid like that._

_*Diary Entry No.203_

_~HHH III_


	3. Fear, Jealousy, Contempt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *Izuku's POV*

When he had first walked to school a few days after the pandemonium regarding his recently manifested quirk and displayed his strange, new quirk, people had looked on in awe as he clenched his eyes shut and seemingly _'disappeared'._ The other kids swiped at the space he had been occupying seconds prior, until he *popped* back into existence right before their eyes with a shaky, nervous, but satisfied grin.

"Whoa! That is so _cool!_ Deku has an awesome quirk!"

_"Awesome!"_

"He keeps disappearing!"

"Wow, who knew Deku wouldn't be as useless as people thought?" _-ouch, that last one hurt a little._

All in all, however, Izuku was very pleased with this outcome.

"But why did the spineless loser get a cool quirk? It's not like he's gonna do anything useful with it. Kind of a waste if you ask me..." That was one of Izuku's more proactive bullies that said this.

It hurt, to see so many of his classmates stop and consider these words -many of them actually sneering and voicing their agreement. It was as though everything that he'd just demonstrated had meant nothing to the prejudice he'd suffered for so long. The other kids were so rooted in their expectance of... not expecting _anything_ from him, that they had already written him off again.

Katsumi hadn't even given it a second after those hushed whispers were sounded, before she proceeded to aim her crackling palms at their other classmates. "Are you kidding me? You losers seriously think you could do better than Deku then or something? You extra's don't even have the power to make it as heroes, let alone take Deku on so you better shut your mouths before I _make you_."

Katsumi had made it clear that she planned to stop defending Izuku the same morning of the day that his quirk had manifested, yet she had just defended him right there and then. That feeling of happiness that filled him to see her acting just like she used to was almost indescribable. Izuku couldn’t suppress the sun-bearing beam he released, which the girl in question blinked at as though momentarily blinded by its innocence, before huffing and pouting away from him.

Izuku ended up spending that lunch break, followed by the next, as well as all the ones after that, glued to Kacchan's side. They would end up trying to train their quirks as much as they could (which sadly wasn't much at all considering they were still only five and their quirks were still underdeveloped). Izuku didn't particularly like training his quirk as much as he Katsumi did, mostly due to how terrifying it felt when he was left alone in the empty dimension he had access to, but he tried his best to be brave if only due to not wanting to fall behind Katsumi.

He quickly had discovered what his quirk actually was with her help. He still didn't understand it very well since it was far to complicated for his young mind to fully comprehend, however he knew that closing each of his eyes resulted in a different outcome/use of his quirk.

Whenever he closed his right eye, he found himself standing in the exact same place as he was before, however the big difference here was that this place was completely tinted a light, ethereal blue and was not only lifeless in a _literal_ sense (no trees, no plants, no animals nor other humans), but figuratively speaking as well. It just felt so... barren. There was absolutely no sound of the outside world other than an echo to his footsteps, and anything that he touched felt cool like metal, with no differential in temperature anywhere.

He didn't really like this side to his quirk due to how lonely it made him feel whilst using it.

On the other hand, when he closed his right eye, the strangest feeling overcame him; one of tingly vertigo. The world around him continued moving forward, however he began... reversing? His mother had said something about his quirk 'affecting time itself in a way', however he didn't fully understand what that meant. What he did know, was that when he used it, he would end up reversing/rewinding back to where he was up to several seconds prior depending on how long he had it activated. If he jumped forwards, landed and then activated his quirk, he would end up floating up into the air and backwards, before finding himself standing right where he was previously. According to Kacchan, she could see him moving backwards as it happened, which 'looks like some magic trick' when he does it since he apparently glows light blue.

Another benefit he also found out later was that he could reverse whatever harm he received (such as a burn or cut) so long as he did it quickly, however using his quirk for too long in either way would leave him _unbelievably_ exhausted, as well as with a massive migraine, so it wasn't a totally reliable method for endurance.

Whenever they weren't training their quirks together like that, however, then they'd be playing hero versus villain in the courtyard, constantly switching roles and acting and smiling to their childish hearts' content. Otherwise they would go exploring in the local forest/parks together, or just spend time talking about the latest feats of awesome heroes -especially All Might- which Izuku found himself recording and analysing in notebooks to try and teach himself how they did what they did. Kacchan said it was silly, but she still liked to add her own input so he never took the words to heart and always included her.

Izuku loved Katsumi's presence. He loved her as a friend, and wouldn't trade her for the world. Even though she was ~~a little~~ rough around the edges, he knew she cared. Ultimately, he didn't make any more friends for the rest of that year. Nor did he in the next, however he was fine with this. He had Kacchan, and she proved to be all he felt he needed.


	4. The Viking 'Enigma'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *Hiccup's POV*

Mornings came very much the same for the young, scrawny, twelve-year-old viking.

He'd wake up, releasing an un-content yawn (due to often staying up late tinkering on projects), opening his eyes and blinking at the bright morning sun. The air would nip his cheeks, and if it weren't for the thick, warm furs cocooning him during the night, he would surely be shivering.

The cold was nothing unusual, however. That's just the usual nine-month long, dismal weather Vikings dealt with in this part of the world. Ask around and you'd be told that Berk is twelve days north of Hopeless, a few degrees south of Freezing to Death, and located solidly on the Meridian of Misery. It's _home._

Lucky us.

You may be wondering about the other three months of weather we get if it's already that bad most of the time. Would you be surprised to hear that all that I just spoke about was _disclosing_ winter?

Yeah, there have been a few winter's that had our village close to starving, but we're Vikings, and we don't fear the cold, dark or menacing, and we _certainly_ don't ever admit defeat- especially for having cold toes or wet boots-of which are worse than you'd think when they're constant problems day-in and day-out.

That brings us onto another... 'issue'. Our village is sturdy. Like _real_ sturdy. It's managed to somehow survive for seven generations, which for Vikings (clans of warriors who live for the thrill of a fight -and fight lots they do) is truly an impressive feat.

On the other hand, I can state with deadpan certainty that every single building has been rebuilt from rubble within the last two weeks without exceptions.

Of course, all these negatives and you're probably already thinking that we are just foolish for trying to live here. Logically, of course, you'd think we'd leave.

But we won't. -Vikings are stubborn like that.

Luckily, there are at least _some_ exceptions for this overhanging, dreary fog of cheerless depression. We have hunting grounds in the form of a large forest covering most of the small island, as well as some of the best fishing spots on this side of the Atlantic Ocean. Another small victory is that half the island ends with cliff-faces, so sunsets can be quite astounding.

To be honest though, everything that I've said so far honestly amounts to nothing of considerable importance compared to our biggest problem: A local infestation of pests.

Most places have mice or mosquitoes, but no, not us.

We have _dragons_.

Yes, literal dragons. No, I am not pulling your leg. Massive dragons come swooping in with veils of flame almost every fortnight to raid the archipelago's Viking tribes, and much to our chagrin, Berk is right at the forefront of it all.

Oh, my name's Hiccup, by the way. Great name, I know, but it's not the worst! Parents believe a hideous name will frighten off gnomes and trolls... Like our charming Viking demeanour wouldn't do that anyway.

* * *

Pulling himself up, Hiccup gradually adjusted his bleary eyes, focussing on the splintery wooden rafter, log walls and cluttered dresser/worktable across from him. The room was only broken up by a window on the wall to his right, currently cracked open and filtering in radiant sunlight

Getting out of bed, he planted his feet on the floor, enjoying the feeling on the ticklish furs that laid beside the bed. The feeling sent brief tingles, but within the next minute he was already standing.

A sudden knock from his left brought him from his carefree thoughts. A voice then followed, however the door did not open. "Hiccup! Y'u better be up in tha next minute and downstairs for breakfast son, because if I have ta call you again, there'll be retribution!" The thick, Scottish-accented voice thundered intimidatingly through the door, and Hiccup had the intelligence to realise that pushing his luck would be a very bad idea. He already had slept in just past dawn as is, probably missing some important notices of his father's duties today.

Rushing over, the door to his wardrobe flung open to reveal several sets of clothes. There were two pairs of brown, scratchy, linen trousers, along with several tunics, two of which were green, and another which was black. Hiccup had never really been a person of much variety in his appearance, so he simply donned a green tunic and finally took his sleeveless, bear-fur vest hanging off a peg on the open door.

Once everything had replaced his simple nightwear, he made his way back over to the bed, grabbing his fur boots and slipping them on.

The sound of the stairs creaking outside informed him of limited time, and so with a burst of energy, he sprinted majestically (flailed) towards the bedroom door and practically barrelled past and into the enormous mass of someone behind it as it opened milliseconds prior.

"Urgh... What the..." the voice groaned as the boy looked up, only to meet stern eyes that analysed him. They betrayed the tiniest hint of worry, however that was clearly being purposefully concealed by irritation. "Hiccup?! Wha' in the name o' Odin were you doin' that took you so long?!"

"Uhh..... Sorry dad. I accidentally slept in since I didn't hear the morning bell-tower ringing like usual." he stumbled over referring to this man as his father, but simply smiled sheepishly (since the story was actually true).

The mountainous man simply pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing. "Hhhhh... Well, alright. You're lucky you got outta that room before I got in otherwise I wouldn't be letting this go so easily. This is the last time you sleep in though, ya hear me?"

"Yes, yep, sorry. Won't happen again."

"Aye, better not. Anyway, breakfast's ready on the table, I'm off for the day dealing with the last of the repairs needed from tha' last dragon raid, and then I got a meetin' at the town hall." he turned and began to thump down the stairs again. It looked like the man was actually taking care to be as gentle-footed as possible, yet it proved pointless nonetheless as the entire house shook on the spot with each step.

"Oh, and Hiccup, one last thing I almost forgot; Gobber said ya skipped out on him again during last night's raid, so you've earn't y'urself double time today. He wants you down at the forge as soon as you've eaten." and with that, everything fell silent in the house as the pair sat down for a quick breakfast, before his father picked up his helmet and fur cloak and left for the day to work on his repetitive, endless duties.

Hiccup's father was actually chief of the tribe. Stoick 'the Vast' Horrendous Haddock was a truly prime example of what a Viking wished to be like. He was a fearless leader that could pop off a dragon's head cleanly as just a baby -true story actually, and one that Gobber told him constantly. Stoick was a hulking giant now, with a fiery red, braided grisly beard and stern eyes that could pierce a dragon's hide alone.

Of course, being his father, this meant that Hiccup was allegedly going to take over when he grew up, however there were enough whispers around that spoke about how useless, weak and disappointing he was. Hiccup had been birthed several weeks early, leaving him slightly underdeveloped. He was the smallest of all the Viking children around, and had the worst immune system imaginable, understandably constantly sneezing and sniffling in such an unluckily dreadful climate.

No one wanted him to become chief. He was only twelve, and yet he couldn't swing a sword, nor throw an axe. He could barely get a bola spinning, let alone far and fast enough in the air to capture a dragon, and despite working at the forge under his surrogate uncle, Gobber, for what felt like a millennia, he had barely shown any real development.

Sure, constantly working with heavy weapons daily meant that he was strong and fit, but that was in correspondence to his size, which made it far less monumental of a factor.

Especially since one boy his age was twice his weight _and_ size.

To be truthful, Hiccup didn't even want to be village chief either. It seemed unendingly stressful for his father, and he had far too much of an adventurous, free-spirit to want to be weighed down so heavily by so many responsibilities.

"I mean, I have no friends in the first place, so all I can do is adventure anyway since Dad won't even consider letting me join in on Dragon-Training." he muttered. "No way is he taking that away as well."

Sighing heavily, he left his house, heading for the forge to attend another day of spine-breaking labour.

_'Oh well. Maybe one day I'll catch some lucky break, whether that be by proving myself to everyone, or finding some way to fix all these problems.... If only things were simpler.'_


	5. 'Mom, can we get a pet?'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *Izuku's POV*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be honest, I really don't like this chapter. I rewrote it so many times, and it's also partly the reason why I dropped this story so many months ago (back in April) since I had loads of future chapters but just couldn't write this one and the next one out well.
> 
> Either way, thankfully I managed to get into the groove with a sudden burst of inspiration, so hopefully this marks the future continuation of this story!
> 
> -Yay!!! :3

Izuku Midoriya was nine when the next big milestone event in his life occurred.

He had been walking down the high-street with his mom when he spotted a pet-store. Within seconds, they had already entered and he had found himself browsing down the aisles in wild interest.

The kittens were adorable -especially the one that rolled on its back with wide eyes when he tilted his head. The puppies yapped and nibbled his fingers with wagging tails when he picked them up, and the snakes coiled and slithered as he watched enthralled by their strange method movement. The tortoises munched on salad leaves obliviously, with the mice and gerbils having their fun with their wheels and tube-mazes.

Eventually, however, Izuku came across a small cage with two snow-white rabbits inside. The first one was unfathomably adorable, rubbing at its head with short arms and then staring back at him, nose twitching.

When he looked at the second one with a fond smile, however, he startled backwards, hand clutching his racing heart as two large, human-like red eyes stared back at him from a peachy, tanned face looking from the other side of the cage.

The face raised up, and it was then that he realised that the strange looking rabbit had been a young girl with white rabbit ears, crouched down low practically 'hidden' with the other one.

She laughed at his reaction, standing up fully. "I got you pretty good, huh?"

It took a moment for him to catch his breath, but once he did he sighed. "Yeah, I really thought you were a rabbit at first... You almost gave me a heart attack!" he pouted.

"Sorry. But the laugh was worth it; see, you're laughing too." she pointed out.

"Fair enough. But please don't do that again..." he muttered.

"Alright, alright. Anyway, my name's Rumi Usagiyama, I work here for my dad. Nice to meetcha."

"I-Izuku Midoriya. Nice to meet you too I suppose. Wait- you work here?"

"Yup. I get to feed them all and everything! Pretty cool, huh?"

"Yeah! You're so lucky! That sounds really fun!"

From a distance, Inko watched fondly as her son talked enthusiastically with the new friend he had made. They continued talking for what felt like minutes but was in actual fact half an hour, until eventually, Rumi was called away by her uncle to attend some chores around the store.

"I gotta to go... Guess I'll see you around?" she pursed her lips in irritation, but found herself smiling when Izuku beamed at her.

"Of course! Bye Rumi-chan!"

The girl blinked at the name, before grinning. "See ya Izu-kun!"

before they left, Izuku thought long and hard about everything he'd seen, before eventually bringing his innocent, penetrating gaze towards his mother, who shied from the look she already understood.

"Mooooom... Please can we get a pet?" he pleaded, eyes wide and begging.

"I don't know sweetie... They can be quite a big responsibility and I wouldn't want you forgetting about them if you get busy or bored-"

"I promise that won't happen, mom! Please!"

"Well..." it was definitely abrupt for a normal Saturday, but the mother didn't see _too_ much that could go wrong*. "I guess it depends, what one do you like the most?"

Izuku barely spent a second thinking. "I want that one!" he pointed towards the snowy bunny in the cage, who was looking back innocently, both its gaze and Izuku's expression mirroring themselves and overloading the mother with cuteness.

"... Oh alright. I suppose we can try, but you have to promise not to me, but the bunny that you're going to take care of it properly Izuku! It's wellbeing relies on you!"

"I promise!"

"Okay. Let's go see what we need for it."

The two walked up to the counter, before speaking to the man stood behind it. He looked like a jackrabbit or a hare -Izuku didn't know- and had a largely American accent, but smiled broadly upon their approach. "I saw you talking to my niece there, young man." he eyed the white bunny with an even wider smile.

"How much will this cost us, including the food and everything else?" Inko asked.

"For the kiddo? Let's see... First, I'm going to ask you a few questions, okay?" he regarded Izuku, who blinked but nodded.

"Okay sir."

"First off, what do you think this little guy eats and what _can't_ he eat?"

"Uhm... Rabbits like to eat carrots and lettuce, but also really like other salads and vegetables! They can't eat... meat because it's bad for them!" Izuku said proudly. He loved biology -actually, he loved all of his classes- and knew a bit about general things like this.

The man smiled broader. "That's very good! Most people believe they only eat carrots and lettuce, but they need a more balanced diet to be healthy and happy!

-Next question: What do they do for fun?"

"Uhhh... They... like to dig holes and explore outside?" he was admittedly guessing a bit more on those, however the man's expression reassured him.

"And lastly, what will you call him?"

Izuku took one long look at the rabbit, before turning back confidently. "Shu! I'll call him Shu!"

Finally, the man leant back, and without batting an eye picked up the cage and placed it gently in they boy's hands.

Inko was about to ask how much it was once again to make sure she paid, however the man simply shook his head and spoke up, "No need. This one is in good hands, I can already tell, so let's say you pay for the food and bottle and he's on the house."

Both Midoriya's eyes lit up, sparkling in joy and appreciation from his kindness. "Thank you so much sir!"

"No need to thank me kiddo. Just take good care of Shu here, alright?" he ruffled the boy's hair.

Mother and son then left that shop feeling elated and whimsical, happiness etched onto their faces. "Thank you mom! I love you so much, you're awesome!" Izuku held the cage with complete care.

"I love you too sweetie. _Don't ever forget that."_

* * *

It was only once preschool had ended and middle-school began, that he began to experience actual problems from the other kids. Back in preschool, it had been easy enough to get others to leave him alone when all Kacchan had to do was aim her crackling palms at anyone who annoyed them, however the kids weren't nearly as easily pushed away as then as they grew up. The threats from Katsumi became less intimidating, since they could simply report anything she did to the teachers or principle -and with so many numbers, they'd always be believed.

This also meant situations like now occasionally occurred:

"Come on, Deku! Fight back you weakling!" were the words that complimented a heavy shove, knocking Izuku to the ground.

"Yeah, how is someone like you _ever_ gonna become a hero? Strong quirk or not, you're nothing but a pushover!" a kick came to his gut, causing him to reflexively gasp for air in pain.

"I can't believe you expect to become a _hero!_ _YOU,_ a _hero?!_ That's like a telling a pig to fly, or a mouse to topple an elephant with a toothpick!"

"You're nothing but a coward who won't even fight back against us!"

"What's funnier, is that we really can admit that we're only aiming for weaklings below us, and yet we find that there really isn't an easier target than you!"

Izuku already saw the next kick coming and instantly considered using his quirk to avoid it, but slumped in defeat, accepting the impending pain. He knew that using quirks without a licence was illegal, and he wasn't about to stoop down to their level just to be petty and get back at them.

Either way, he knew he could just reverse the damage soon enough so long as they got bored of beating him quickly.

He didn't have to wait, however, when one of the bullies collided into the other one, both folding like deckchairs as a familiar girl rocked up into view.

"Am I interrupting something here, orrrrr...?" a tanned girl with silver hair, adorable bunny ears but a contrasting scowl (that reminded him perfectly of Kacchan's resting glower) made Izuku smile in surprised recognition.

"R-Rumi! T-thanks for the help, they wouldn't leave me alone but I don't want to be petty and fight them... W-wait, why are you here?" he blinked as he realised that she had shown up wearing the grey uniform that represented their school. She wore the same girls' attire as Kacchan, except she was also wearing thigh-high white leggings and had a white bunny-styled bag with an adorable pink rabbit pin.

"I'm going to school. What does it look like I'm doing?" she raised a serious eyebrow, before falling apart into peals of laughter. "Only messing with you, I transferred here, today's my first day here."

"Oh! Well, that's cool!"

"Yeah, I moved here to live with my uncle last week after... After..." she trailed off, going silent as the boy grew weary in concern.

"Is something wrong?"

"It's nothing... Forget that last part. How about we just get to class?"

"Okay, sure! We're actually a little late and- OH, hold on!" he smiled weakly as suddenly his body lit up in blue and began shifting strangely. He reversed backwards, tumbling through the backwards from the ground to the air (from when he was pushed earlier) and slowly but surely, all the marks on his face and body began to fade and disappear.

"Whoaaaaa, is that your quirk?!" Rumi exclaimed as the boy nervously scratched his head.

"Hehe yeah... It's weird and kinda hard to explain, but it affects both space and time."

"That's pretty cool! I bet you're aiming to become a badass hero, right?" she probed with excitement, without even letting him respond. "So am I! We gotta fight sometime to train, that would be awesome!"

Izuku could do nothing but shy under the barrage of compliments. "Y-you give me too much credit..."

"Nah, don't be lame! It's a waste not to test out a quirk like that, right? Maybe by fighting we can both find out more about each other's limits and improve?"

"I- I guess so... But you would probably be better off fighting with Kacchan. She's _really_ talented and has an incredible quirk."

"Then I'll just fight you both!" she punched her own palm with a cocky smirk before faltering. "Anyway, let's get to class then. _We're already kinda late now..."_

"Ah shoot!" that was enough to put a rocket in his step as they raced off to the classroom.

* * *

It was discovered very quickly that Rumi and Katsumi got along like a house of fire, which was both terrifying and relieving for Izuku -but also detrimental for his sanity in future years.


	6. Downed Dragon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *Hiccup's POV*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know in the first movie Hiccup is 15 when he meets Toothless, however in this I'm making him 14 just to make the timeline line up a bit better.

And then it happened.

The _single_ most important second, moment, _instant_ of his life occurred. Despite his shock and awe of his surprising success at that moment, Hiccup would only later (in reflection) realise that he had hardly come close to expressing, let alone _knowing_ just how monumental that single success truly was.

He hit the Night Fury.

Years of labour; back breaking effort... and the first success he'd ever truly seen in life, came at the age of fifteen. He was renowned as the 'Useless Viking'. The 'Village Failure'. The 'One-who-should-be-avoided'.

Yet it seemed that for the first time in his life, he had not only succeeded in creating and utilising an 'insane' invention of his, had not only done something impressive, but something spectacular. Phenomenal.

_Legendary._

Since for the first time in Viking history, he had downed the illusive, mystical terror that reigned the blazing night skies during raids. The 'Offspring of Lightning and Death itself': The Night Fury.

No one had ever seen a Night Fury before, period. In fact, a Night Fury was so terrifyingly mysterious that not even the most boastful liars would consider pretending they had 'seen it'.

To be fair, neither had Hiccup yet really. All he saw was its shadow, and with an admittedly lucky shot with his prototype bola-launcher, had somehow in some God's favour (or possibly pity) managed to down the beast.

However instead of finding himself searching for the creature to prove his worth to his village by killing it, Hiccup now found himself running from a Monstrous Nightmare that seemed to have _reignited_ his famous bad luck (yes, that was a pun). So currently, he was now careening between houses in alarm as a large, crimson dragon attempted to spit roast him for dinner.

As his mind unhelpfully provided _; 'Wonderful.'_

Suddenly, a large, burly hand shot down and yanked him a foot into the air and an inch above the latest molten blast fired at him, however despite this close call to almost losing his own legs, Hiccup found himself being scolded by his father by an exasperated tone.

"Hiccup?! What is he doing out aga--?! What are you doing out?! Get inside!" with a rough push, he shouldered me aside, in favour of hearing a report on the situation of this current dragon raid.

"What have we got?"

Keeping an ear out, Hiccup managed to overhear Starkard stating "Gronckles, Nadders, Zipplebacks. Oh, and Hoark saw a Monstrous Nightmare."

"What about that Night Fury?"

"It stopped attacking only minutes ago, but no-one knows why other than it could have ran out of shots? But even that's unlikely since it only attacked three towers before going silent... Tonight's been brutal; it seems like they're sending everything they've got to get rid of us, so it wouldn't be a stretch to assume it's coming _back_."

"... Alright. MEN, MAN THE CATAPULTS, AIM NORTH TOWARDS THE BANK AND KEEP THEM OFF THE LIVESTOCK!"

Mulling over what he had just heard, Hiccup reached his house overlooking Berk on its hill, knowing it was probably the sturdiest building he could hole away in regardless, however that wasn't what he was focused on right now.

_'Argh damnit! Why didn't I tell my dad about the Night Fury while I could?! I wasn't thinking and just left, but I should have gotten a search party out there to look for it!_

_... then again, not only is everyone too occupied with defending right now to leave the village, but I doubt anyone would believe me anyway, so maybe not telling him was a good thing._

_I know! I can surprise him! Find that Night Fury, cur out its heart and bring it to my father! The whole village will stop calling me useless once they find out I'm the one who ended the legendary Night Fury!'_

Steeling himself, Hiccup checked his belt for his knife, before leaving out the back door, venturing into the dark forest and away from the blazing flames that lit parts of the village in the early morning sky. Over time, he came to regret not bringing a candle, however thankfully (or not thankfully judging by how much time must have been wasted) the sun had began to rise, making it easier for him to search. It only took a couple hours for Hiccup to cross out next to all of his map of Berk, however still no Night Fury and it was beginning to frustrate him.

Scratching out the page angrily with the charcoal, he defiantly slapped a branch ahead of him, however only received a _*thwap!*_ to the face in return, angering him more until he noticed something very strange.

The tree the branch was attached to was splinted down to the base, split as though something _large_ had collided with it. Following the destruction, there was also a trench of loose dirt that snaked up and over a small, lipped hill and beyond, and finally Hiccup stitched it all together.

Gulping, he slowly crept forward, closer and closer towards the lip of the ditch, pulling out his knife and holding it with two shaky hands as he stayed on full alert.

Slowly peeking over, his eyes met with something he could only have dreamed of. Right before him, laying ten feet away, was a medium-sized (but still undeniably large compared to him) dragon, with obsidian black scales and ebony wings. They gleamed faintly in the thin rays of light that pierced the tree canopy, and signed with mossy rocks and such green grass, the image before him seemed ethereal.

But that did nothing to calm his faltering nerves.

Crawling foreward cautiously, he only relaxed somewhat when he noticed that the thing was not moving, its chest still and eyes closed.

_'It's dead...'_

"I-I did it! Oh, wow. I _actually_ _did it!_ This fixes everything! Yes! I have brought down this mighty beast!-" he went to step on the seemingly dead dragon's foreleg, however stumbled harshly when it shifted suddenly and forced him away.

Sent into a shocked panic, Hiccup only realised that the dragon was in-fact _not dead_ as its piercing, acidic eyes stared into his very soul from only an inch from his face. "AHH!" Scrambling backwards in a blind panic, it took him a few seconds of questioning why it wasn't trying to eat him, for him to remember that it was currently tied up and fully restrained by the bola still wrapped around it.

Hiccup flinched into a small frown when he noticed that the dragon's wings were bending awkwardly within the confines, the ropes also semi-strangling it as it visibly tried to stifle its pained winces in front of him, still trying to act tough and strong yet clearly terrified within.

Hiccup only realised he had been staring into the creature's eyes when it snuffed (or huffed?), before closing its own and dropping lax, seemingly accepting its inevitable death.

Gulping, he tried to assume the role he knew he was supposed to. "I-I'm going to kill you, dragon. I-I'm gonna cut out your heart and take it to my father. I'm a Viking. I am a VIKING!"

It only whined weakly in response, filled with unfiltered sorrow and distress. Hiccup tried to hold up his knife, steel his nerves -or at the very least, his _hands,_ yet nothing seemed to want to cooperate. He couldn't force his knife down, regardless of it he closed his eyes or not.

"I... I did this..." he faltered, stumbling back as the stainless knife fell to the soil. His eyes fell to his own hands as a face of disgust and fury exploded on his face. He only stopped hating himself briefly when he noticed eyes staring at him from the edge of his vision, and looking up he received a look of confused, fearful, but mostly... understanding eyes.

The only way he could describe it, was that the dragon had seemed to have come to a shattering realisation as suddenly, its tensed body and expression fell completely lax, replaced with nothing but silent questions and confusion. Hiccup also noticed that the dragon's eyes had now shifted from piercing slits to rounded, curious squares.

All within only a moment.

Realising again that they had been locked staring at each other for far too long, he blinked, before slowly tilting his head sideways.

The dragon copied. It then moved its eyes between him and the knife on the ground beside him in a clearly questioning manner.

_Is it asking why I didn't kill it...?_

Donning a frown, Hiccup finally said something. "I... I'm weak and I'm useless. That's why I can't kill you." was all he said with a sad expression as he picked up the knife unthreateningly. The dragon only blinked in response, which made him scoff. "Why am I even talking to you anyway... Not like you can understand what I'm saying."

This time, its scaled eyebrows lowered into a squinted frown as it stared at him in open irritation.

 _"What?"_ oblivious as always, Hiccup simply raised an eyebrow. "Is that in defiance of me saying you can't understand human speech, or something else?" The dragon rolled its eyes, which made Hiccup pause. "Wait, are you serious? You understand what I'm saying?"

It tried to nod, but the ropes barely budged.

"... I-if I let you go... will you try to attack me...?" Hiccup frowned as he stared down at the knife in his hand.

The dragon took a second before shaking its head.

...

"O-okay... Well... I'll cut the ropes, but... only if you promise to never attack Berk again. Is that a deal?" Hiccup tried to push past the stupidity he felt at talking to a dragon.

It grunted and writhed a little, but didn't particularly deny his request, eventually nodding in reluctance.

Slowly, he then began to approach the dragon, holding the knife loosely at the bottom non-threateningly as he closed the distance towards the rope bindings and slowly began cutting through them. At several stages he wondered if he was going to live to regret this decision, however luckily for him, the dragon seemed to keep its word as the final rope snapped and all it did was slowly raise and stretch its most likely cramped limbs.

Taking a cautious step back, natural instincts reminding him of how scary the beast before him truly was, he had to refrain from taking any reflexive action when it finally turned towards him, before it then began sniffing him all over, making him nervous but slightly reassured that it wasn't being hostile -for now.

Leaning back, the dragon took on a baffled look as it stared at him, however at that exact moment, a bush rustled close to them both and as the dragon took off to escape the possible threat of a Viking group, Hiccup ducked out of its way and found himself watching as the Night Fury tried but failed to remain airborne without losing control and height as it crashed several times into both trees and rocks before completely disappearing in the dense wooded valley.

Out from the bush, came a group of teens who seemed none the wiser to Hiccup nor the dragon's confrontation as they all conversed and joked, punching each other and laughing until eventually, one stopped at noticing Hiccup staring at them nearby, and nudged the others.

"The hell are you doing all the way out here?

"The hell are _you_ doing all the way out here?" Snotlout, his eternally irritating and arrogant bully of a cousin sneered.

"Hehe... just... leaving. You know? I'll just leave you guys to have whatever fun with what you're doin-"

 _"Not so fast, Useless."_ Snotlout poked his chest, backing the boy up against a thick tree. "Now that you're here, I was feeling kinda bored so how about we have some fun?"

"Uhh... hehe, I'm uh, not sure your kind of fun is... well, fun..." he nervously, weakly grinned.

"Oh yeah?" a fist lodged itself into his gut, but before the 'fun' could go any further, voices piped up behind the two coming from the Thorston twins.

"...Hold on- are those ropes?"

"It looks like a cut up bola," one of the Thorston twins pointed out wearily "and look, there's the knife..."

"H-hold on guys, it's not what it looks like..." Hiccup tried to speak but the fist still wedged in his stomach was making it hard.

"Holy shit... he actually _downed a dragon."_ Snotlout spoke wide-eyed, leaving Hiccup and the rest of the group silent.

But at least Hiccup now figured out a get-out-of-jail card

"It's still around here!" he spoke up, gaining all of their attention. "The Night Fury, I told you all I hit it last night but nobody believed me! It escaped the bola before I got here so I don't know where it went, but that's why I'm all the way out here; I was looking for it to bring back its head!"

The group stood silent for a while, until eventually, Astrid spoke up. "I still find that hard to believe. Even if you managed to hit a dragon, I could only imagine it being a gronckle."

_Ouch..._ -knowing the truth that it WAS a Night Fury stung. _"Y-you don't know that!_ And besides, _it may still be here!_ Instead of us fighting right now, we should get out of here incase it comes back since it _clearly_ isn't bound anymore!" he gestured to the laces of frayed rope, desperately hoping that the teens would take the bait and leave with him.

All of this was both for his sake and the Night Fury's, as he didn't want to be beaten up but also didn't want them to possibly find the Night Fury out in the woods by accident.

He felt his feet lift from the floor, before feeling the back of his fur vest catch on the lowest branch of a tall tree. "Snotlout, what are you doing...?"

"Hey, you said there was a Night Fury here, right? Well, do you think it'll come out for a free snack?" the boy grinned lecherously before turning towards the others. "All we have to do is ambush it and kill it! Then we'll be worshipped as the first ever slayers of a Night Fury!" he spoke like it was some genius plan crafted by a true mastermind.

"And you don't think it won't sense you guys _lurking in bushes only metres away?_ It's a Night Fury, some on guys- UGH-" another punch to the gut cut him off, leaving him severely winded and writhing on the branch.

 _"There we go!_ Just keep struggling like that and I'm sure it'll come Useless! Good jo-" just as the boy smiled at him, something whistled in the distance and suddenly, something purplish-blue collided with the bully's side, releasing a shockwave that sent him launching across the dirt and skidding to an unconscious stop. Another few whistles came as more purple blasts either purposefully hit their targets or corralled the direction the group fled in by cratering the ground around them.

"What the hell?!" they screamed as they scattered.

With wide eyes, Hiccup watched as he was abandoned by the group without second-thought, but he had a small feeling he knew what was going on as he turned his head towards the source of the blasts -of which none of them hit him still, and saw the Night Fury hidden within trees, rocks and bushes but perfectly able to fire at the teens unsuspectedly.

Eventually once it ended, the dragon's eyes met with his own, but just as quickly as they were there, they were gone. The last thing that happened was that a small, far weaker blast impacted the base of the branch he was hanging from, leaving it to crack and drop him to the ground, but after that, the dragon disappeared without a trace.

Deciding it wasn't worth the effort of dragging him all the way back to the village, Hiccup left Snotlout propped up against the large tree, very much doubting that he'd be attacked by anything else so close to the village -but not caring _too much_ if he was.


	7. Classroom Shenanigans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *Izuku's POV*
> 
> -In which Izuku Midoriya only feels confidence when confiding in his two trusted friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... In these latest few chapters, I've been struggling to write without feeling like I'm rushing everything far too fast. On the other hand, I really want to get to the UA chapters relatively quickly (since that's where the most excitement is).
> 
> If people reading this could please leave a comment/review of how they fell about the current pace of the story, that would be much appreciated for me to gauge everything 😓😊

It had been four years since Izuku had first met Rumi and introduced her to Kaachan, and each one of those years got progressively harder to deal with the pair.

Izuku tapped his pen in rhythmic anticipation for the bell to finally ring. Seconds seemed to tick by like hours, and he could have sworn these last five minutes on the clock had repeated themselves many times over.

He felt a small kick to the back if his chair, however he pretended to ignore it, knowing full well it was attention that Rumi wanted.

"Izuku. Izu-kun. Midoriya!" she whispered, kicking his chair again.

With a heavy sigh as he knew it wouldn't stop anytime soon if he didn't just glance, he turned around when he was certain the teacher wasn't looking and groaned at what he saw. Rumi had stuck several pencils in just about every hole in her head, looking much like a porcupine and giving a daft grin with cross-eyes. A miniscule snort escaped his mouth from the unexpectedness of it, but it wasn't nearly as funny as the girl made it out to be, so he promptly twisted back around with a straight face, once again partially listening to the teacher's rambles, but primarily focussed on the clock.

_Four minutes left._

After about ten seconds, he felt something hit his head and land on his desk in front of him. He had a feeling he didn't actually _want_ to see what was likely written inside, but it didn't seem like he had a choice when he recognised the red ink from within -something Katsumi always wrote in. Ignoring this could get him killed, so he just rolled it out in his lap with a blank face, proving he had looked at it, before scrunching it up and stuffing it in his pocket.

It asked the question 'wanna hang out after school?' on it.

_Yes, but school STILL hasn't ended yet. Three minutes left._

He slumped in his chair as the teacher raved on about some weird, pretty useless fact about how no number from 1 to 999 includes the letter "a" in its word form, as well as that a "jiffy" is about one trillionth of a second.

Usually, Izuku supposes he'd find these sorts of things more interesting, however today was just not a good day.

What surprised him most with two minutes left, however, was when Katsumi waltzed up to his desk, sat down on the corner and dumped her maths book on his desk.

"Oi nerd, check these are right for me."

He blinked, then blinked again, having never expected any of this from her -she was a proud individual who practically aced all her work much like he did (they were joint top of the class in practically all lessons). A frown then placed on his face as he knew she was up to something, and it only grew when she responded with an 'innocent' grin.

_Yeah, no. I don't trust that._

Just as he looked down at the book, however, he noticed the girl slowly shifting backwards, inch by inch on his desk. He refused to look up, as staring at her ass wouldn't be very noble, but when she wiggled, it only served to frustrate him more, as he realised that that was _exactly what she wanted._

Before he could just shove the book back at the girl and say it was all perfect -without bothering to check, since he knew it would be, another presence made themselves known, plopping down right beside Katsumi and dumping another book on his desk.

"Bakugou, Usagiyama, what are you two doing? I hope you two aren't bothering Midoriya over there." the teacher called out, finally having noticed.

"Oh, nothing sir, I just wanted Deku to check my work for mistakes."

"And I just wanted help with the last few questions from earlier." Rumi added, picking up each of their books to show the teacher as their getaway.

"Oh, alright, well just don't take too long, I'm sure Midoriya would like to get home on-time." the teacher said before returning to his pointless drabble to fill the last few minutes.

Snatching the book from Rumi's hand, he could at least _pretend_ to not know what they were doing, knowing full well that the bunny girl likely _didn't_ know the answers to at least a few of the questions. Out of the three of them, Rumi payed the least attention to anything academic by a landslide.

Looking down at the page, Izuku realised that the girl hadn't even _started_ on today's work in the last hour, and he groaned in contempt.

"Are you serious? You haven't even started!" he whispered as a grunt.

She didn't look back, however, and only matched Katsumi by sliding an inch back on his desk. They were both already blocking his vision, but now it was just embarrassing as one-by-one, they each slid back on his desk until he had to remove his arms from it entirely lest they get trapped underneath their rears. He did everything in his power to look sternly at the books to pretend he was checking them or _something,_ but for every time the two girls moved, more and more of his peripheral vision was just filled with **ass.** The boy knew they were only doing it to either embarrass them for amusement or irritate him for attention, but he refused to look up even once, even if the pair were looking straight ahead at the teacher -allowing him to look unconditionally which made it more embarrassing.

***Brrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiinnnnnng*** the bell finally sounded like a graceful choir of disharmony, brain-penetrating angels but he didn't care, as immediately Izuku stood up with his chair loudly scraping on the floor, he picked up his bag with a large blush still remaining on his irritated face, proceeded to slap both books into each of the girls' arms catching them off guard by the abruptness, and stared at them with the smallest smug tug at the sides of his lips.

"Just so you both know, _I didn't look up once."_ and with that said, he smirked at the disappointed pouts on their faces as he swivelled on his feet and turned to leave, knowing that the two girls were likely scrambling to pack up their own stuff to catch up to him. They always walked to and from school together since their homes were really close, but the least he could do was both get them back for all they'd done today as well as earn himself a few moments of quiet.

To be truthful, he wasn't actually mad at the two, as they did seem to have a talent at making time pass by just a _little_ bit faster -and he knew they were only teasing him-, but if they were going to be like that, of course he was going to do whatever it took to entirely irritate them back -case in point by his proud statement.

*Side-note: Of course he _wanted_ to -he was a boy, after all, regardless of how kind and responsible he tried to be as a person- but hell would have to freeze over on Earth before he ever gave them the satisfaction/ammunition of knowing that.

"Oi, wait up you damn nerd!"

 _Ah, there they are._ "You two took your time." that would surely rile them up in revenge.

"Why you-!" Rumi proceeded to cuff him upside the head with an upturned pout as Kacchan frowned death itself his way, but Izuku couldn't stop giggling, which intern spread to the two girls until soon enough, they were all laughing on their way home.

"So Kacchan, you asked if we could hang, what do you girls want to do?"

"Smash you at Hero-Brawl-"  
"Smash you at training-"

Both girls looked at each other before nodding. ""Let's do both.""

All the boy could do was groan lightheartedly with a roll of the eyes as they dragged him off.


	8. In the Ring - Arena Rumble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I decided to change the dragon training scene in the movie DRASTICALLY so I suggest you don't skip over this chapter
> 
> -Sidenote: where's the fun if you don't make viking teaching methods a little more barbaric? XD

"Welcome ta dragon training!" a burly Viking with a peg leg and prosthetic arm greeted with a gruff, Scottish and excited tone.

Six teenagers entered the rock-walled, chain-ceilinged arena, one hanging far behind the rest, unnoticed as they all conversed with eager anticipation.

_"I hope I get some serious burns..."_

"I'm hoping for some mauling on my shoulder... _or my lower back!"_ Ruffnut and Tuffnut smirked to themselves before turning to Astrid (of course).

"Yeah, it's only fun if you get a scar out of it." she replied nonchalantly, as though scars were a casual, everyday thing for a fifteen year old.

Hiccup scoffed before sighing beneath his breath, immensely wishing he was ~~some~~ _any_ where else. "Yeah, no kidding right? Pain. _Love it!"_ his voice dripped with sarcasm with the best 'indifference' he could feign towards the situation.

 _"Oh great, who let_ him _in?"_ was the instant response he received from one of the twins, which was no surprise.

"Right, LET'S GET START'D!" Gobber caught their attention, thankfully diverting it away from the boy as everyone gathered round, ready for their first ever lesson in dragon training.

Every year, a new intake of students would enter an arena to be pitted against dragons as a form of 'training'. It consisted of learning individual dragons' strengths, weaknesses and traits, all through 'first hand experience'. Until yesterday, Stoick refused to let his son enter the upcoming training, regardless of being the future village chief or not. Hiccup spent his entire life -fifteen years- trying so very desperately to prove to his father that he could succeed like the rest, trying to make him proud, however nothing ever worked.

But of course irony just had to strike, and the same night after meeting the Night Fury and realising he didn't have it in him to actually kill dragons like a normal Viking, his father had changed his mind on the 'spur of a moment' and decided to force him into dragon training, ignoring his futile protests.

"Today, we're going to be taking a look at what 'ur all capable of! Starting with this six-sided dice, we're going to be determining which of you faces off against each dragon."

"Whoa-whoa, aren't you going to teach us first?!" Snotlout stuttered.

"I believe in learning on the job-"

"And what's a 'dice'?" practically all of them questioned.

"Eh, I had to call this rock _something_ and since it's possibly leading you all to your inevitable doom? I decided 'dice' or 'die' was fitting."

Hiccup had to refrain from narrowing his eyes _too_ visibly at the crude joke.

"So... how does it work?"

"Good question Snotlout. First of all, Each of you are going to pick a number between one to six without copies, starting with you Snotlout. Pick a number."

Tuffnut snickered, "Uhh... what if it's above four? Snot can't count any higher than tha- OW!" Tuffnut rubbed his arm from the bruise likely already forming there as Snotlout glared at him.

"...Two."

"-See, I told y- OW! Dude, I was just kidding!" he hid beneath his elbow as Snotlout jabbed at him harshly.

"-Yeah, well kid on my _fist-!"_

 _"OI, OI, calm down you lot!_ We haven't even started yet and you've already got bruises!" Gobber cuffed the pair before sighing. "You know what? I'm giving you your numbers so there isn't any more _confusion._ Astrid, you're 1. Snotlout, you're 2. Ruffnut is 3 and Tuffnut is 4, Fishlegs is 5, and finally, Hiccup is 6." he patted each of them in order. _"This_ is the order you'll each be fighting in."

Any and all protest went ignored as he continued by lifting up the 'die' for all of them to see, "All of you will bare witness that I am not playing any deciding factor in which dragon you face, it's all down to _luck._ Each of the six caged dragons are already numbered one to six and those numbers aren't changing; whichever number you _get_ is what you're facing, _no complaints._ Is that understood?"

"Yes sir."

"Right," he flung the rock into the air, and with a few clatters it finally rested on a number. "Number two, Astrid, you're facing off against the Deadly Nadder." he pointed to the second gage, which coincidentally shook on its large hinges terrifyingly.

He then repeated this several times with the others.

"Snotlout, six. You're up against the Terrible Terror-"

"What?! But that's like for _babies_! Shouldn't Hiccup be the one facing-"

 _"I could 'ave sworn I remember telling you all nothin' changes once it's decided..."_ the man sarcastically pondered, challenging the boy to continue -which he reluctantly did not.

Somehow, both of the twins landed on the same number twice in a row, but Gobber said that it was fine seeing as the Hideous Zippleback had two heads and was 'extra tricky anyway', and penultimately, "Fishlegs, you're 1. The Gronkle."

Finally, it came down to Hiccup, however he had long already pieced together which dragon he'd be facing, and sods' law, of _course he got the- "6. That's the Monstrous Nightmare for Hiccup."_

Instantly, the whole group broke out into a roar of shock, insults and mocking. "Are you SERIOUS?! _HE_ get's the Monstrous Nightmare? Oh, this is gonna be rich!" Snotlout couldn't refrain from chuckling wildly as Astrid stared at him with brief remorse for his poor luck (her face showing clear belief that he was going to die), whilst the twins argued and punched each other and Fishlegs remained unnervingly silent with a frown of hidden concern.

"RULES ARE RULES. Now. Snotlout, because you're number one, you're up first against the Terrible Terror. For each of these matches I will still be here in the arena with you giving you hints on how to outsmart and defeat your opponent. Listen to what I say and you'll live -probably. I will _only_ interfere in emergencies." The man then ushered the rest of the teens out of the arena and up to the edge where they could spectate above, locked the entrance and then grabbed the lever separating the dragon's pen in the rock wall from the open arena.

Over the course of the day, one by one, each of the teen recruits entered the arena. Snotlout had ended his with the most relative ease -but not without his nose glowing red and inflating to the size of a melon from how viciously the Terror had been biting onto it.

Astrid of course performed exceptionally; far above anyone else, however a Deadly Nadder was a tough match-up and it definitely wasn't easy. Eventually, the match ended with a practical 'tie' as both the Nadder and the girl refused to admit defeat.

The twins had been... well, for once in their lives, they had been out-pranked. The Zippleback had begun by spreading thick green gas throughout the entire arena, blocking all vision. It then took its sweet time to mess with the twins, and although it had every chance to blow them both up for all their mistakes -such as drenching water over the _wrong head_ out of the one that spews gas and the one that _ignites it_ something Gobber hadn't thought to tell them until it was too late. They ended with defeat, but exiting the arena out of shame wasn't half as bad as what it could have been.

Fishlegs... Well, once again, it was more of a one-sided match and once again and mostly in favour of the Gronkle. It had blasted his shield into splinters of wood within seconds, and despite only having six molten shots to work with -courtesy of Gobber's enlightenment once again' it didn't waste many shots in corralling the boy into a corner, ready with one final blast. This match was the first time Gobber actually had to intervene quite drastically, catching the beast by the jaws and throwing it back in its cage before it killed the boy.

Finally, however, it came down to Hiccup's turn. Plodding his way down the narrow passage and into the arena. The axe in his hands felt like a lead weight shackling him to the ground and he could seemingly sense all the splinters in the wooden shaft with ten times the detail than he'd usually notice as they rubbed against his hands. He nervously gulped as Gobber slapped his back encouragingly. He could have sworn he saw fear/concern lace itself on the man's face as well (more than any previous time throughout the day) however it was quickly concealed.

"Y'u got this, lad." he whispered, before grabbing the final cage lever of the day and yanking it down forcefully.

The edges of the giant metal double-door glowed a molten red/orange and abruptly _burst_ open, far more violently than any other dragon had done previously. A snarl that reverberated throughout the ribcages of all those present sent shivers down their spines (including those watching, of which quite a crowd from the village had come to watch the boy facing off against a Monstrous Nightmare).

Piercing yellow eyes slit right down the middle and displaying the wild ferocity of an untamed beast narrowed on him like prey- or perhaps more like an insect to be squashed with disregard. It's maw widened, glowing red hot, and that's when Gobber's voice broke through the boy's stupor.

"HICCUP, _SHIELD!"_

Instantly, his eyes cast themselves over the ground around him, thankfully spotting an untouched circular shield only a foot away (which he thanked the gods for). Pulling it to his front, he shrunk his entire frame to fit as best he could behind the singular shield only milliseconds before molten, viscous magma was sent spewing at him. Most of it thankfully sprayed wide with inaccurate blobs littering the ground around him, however he knew that whatever amount of it that had hit the shield would have easily killed him alone.

But now, the shield was already melting -and on fire- so he ditched it, aiming to reach another one before he could be attacked again. The axe felt like it was slowing him down far too drastically, its weight too much in comparison to his thin frame, but Gobber's voice rang out once again.

"If you have to make the choice between a sword or a shield, _take the shield!"_ Gobber's advice was helpful and all, but Hiccup could only wish he knew it _before_ he'd entered the arena without any experience facing against one of the most fearsome dragons. Nonetheless, he dropped the weapon in favour of protecting himself from the next upcoming wave of fire, and reaching the next shield, he barely had a second before once again he was sprayed with globs of molten magma that made him sweat just from the close proximity alone. This time, however, the Nightmare followed up its ranged attack by swinging its large claw at him, which sent him sprawling to the ground, dazed from the unexpectedness of it.

"HICCUP, GET UP LAD!" it seemed Gobber was only seconds away from pulling the plug and interfering, however Hiccup -perhaps foolishly?- managed to pick himself up to his feet.

The only problem now was that he no longer held a weapon nor a shield. No offence or defence, and he was completely at the dragon's mercy...

Seeing it open its jaw one final time, he clenched his eyes shut, feeling hot tears slip down his face from the unfairness of it all. He didn't want to die. He didn't even want to _fight._ He just wasn't given a choice...

Cringing and shrunk in on himself, he waited. And waited. And waited. But the blast to end his life never came, and reluctantly, almost expecting for him to look only to see the attack fly at him head-on, he cracked his eyes open with a shiver and was amazed by what he saw.

The Nightmare was staring right at him, seemingly into his very _soul._ Its mouth had closed and it refused to move, simply watching as he cautiously unravelled his curled up body (though he was still standing up).

_It had spared him. Seen his misery, probably the harmless nature within him and spared his life._

From there, they simply locked eyes, the situation almost entirely reminding him of the intelligent look he saw in the Night Fury's eyes, until suddenly, a bola was thrown at the dragon, breaking apart their trance and causing it to shake violently. Hiccup could hardly bare to watch as the poor creature was dragged writhing and roaring back into its ~~cage~~ prison.

Before anyone could manage to stop him, he had already left the arena behind, legs numb to the burning his desperate sprint was surely causing him. He told himself he didn't know where he was going, but the truth was that deep inside, he was certain.

_'I don't want to be a part of this war anymore.'_

**Author's Note:**

> This story is a combination of two other stories of mine called "The 'Phase Shift Blink' Paradox" and "How to Train your Draconic Hero", so one or two of these first chapters are recycled, but just stick with it. :)


End file.
